rain

Today's the day I am supposed to get back to work on book stuff, and back in the saddle, but it has been raining most of the night and all morning and is now once again pouring down at a steady rate.

Good for book stuff, not so good for riding!

I think I might make a cup of tea and listen to the rain and get rolling with my book to do list. 

And hope the horses and the donkeys aren't too grumpy when hay and stall-cleaning time rolls around!

This kind of day makes me long for an indoor arena.

home!!

And as lovely as it was to have time away to write (I finished the first draft!) it was even more lovely to get back home again. 

Bear and Kyra Corgis followed me every step all day on Monday, as soon as the donkeys heard my voice they took up braying and calling to me, Keil Bay was a bit distant (as he usually is when I first return) but a belated birthday celebration soon lured him back to his regular self. He is now 26 and the pony is 15! 

Pixie Pie (kit-meow) ran up and down trees she was so excited. 

Once I get back home again I wonder how I ever managed to be away. 

more hunt room, word count report

I'm at 70k today and it's only 10:35 a.m.!

And I found out that the woman renting the stables on the grounds here is someone I know, so I'm looking forward to a barn tour before I leave.

I wandered down to the hunt room this morning and thought I'd post another couple of photos:

This is the same hunt my daughter has ridden with over the past few years. I have stood and watched riders and hounds leave the fixtures and except for the newer style helmets, the scene could have been any year since 1914. The 100-year anniversary of the Moore County Hunt Club last year was quite an accomplishment. 

I'm here until Monday and then I will be home again, just in time for the sun to come back out and hopefully I can get right back to riding the Big Bay. 

when I need my horse fix...

while here at Weymouth, I walk down to the hunt room and soak up the energy. The Boyds were huge foxhunting folk and here you see hunt coats and trophies and all things equine.

We had rain and high winds yesterday into the evening and today is much cooler and very bright and sunny. I'm thinking the Big Bay and his herd are at home enjoying this weather and I wish I were there to ride!

But I'm writing like crazy and that's what this time is for.

writing time

I arrived Friday at Weymouth for 10 days during which I plan to finish the novel I started at the beginning of March - the first, rough draft of it, anyway. 

It's spring in full force here with dogwoods blooming and azaleas too, and the big old house is just as magical as it always is. The stables have been empty the past two visits but there are horses here again and all afternoon into the early evening the sounds of whinnies came up through the open veranda door. It feels like home.

This is a photo of the huge photo montage that is in the "hunt room" - the Boyds, who originally built and lived in Weymouth, were huge foxhunting people, and the hunt room is a tribute to that part of their lives here. Even as recently as February of this year, the Moore County Hounds set forth from Weymouth grounds on one of their hunts. It's a wonderful tradtition and why it's so nice to hear the whinnies again.